.
ro·man·tic
adj.
Given to thoughts or feelings of romance;
imaginative but impractical;
tan·gle
v.
To mix together or intertwine;
n.
A confused, intertwined mass.
A jumbled or confused state or condition

When I first started planning my Extra Scrappy Pinwheels, I thought it would be one of my everything-that's-dark-enough-to-contrast-with-the-muslin-background scrap quilts. I don't remember actually changing my mind, but there were some bags of red scraps from a craigslist find, and I started cutting and quilting took its course...

For each pinwheel block, you will need four 2 1/2" squares, eight 2" finished half square triangles, and four 4" finished half square triangles. (That would be 2 7/8" and 4 7/8" half square triangles if you're not using the AccuQuilt Dies.)

Sew two of the small print triangles to a square to form a larger triangle. Then add a white triangle to form a square. Once the squares are done, you're just making regular pinwheels -- easy!

To duplicate my quilt, make nine pinwheel blocks and assemble them using 2 1/2" sashing between the blocks. Add a 2 1/2" white border around the center section, then a pieced triangle border (each side is made up of sixteen half square triangle units, with 2 1/2" squares at the corners), then another 2 1/2" white border.

If that sounds like a scary lot of little triangles, it's really not. You can cut more red triangles than you'll need for the blocks and border with two passes through the Go! Cutter. And one more pass for the white ones. And with those pre-trimmed corners, they go together faster than you think they will. I did them in my "just sit down and sew for fifteen minutes" breaks and probably had all of the stitching done in and hour and a half. Even though my machine kept eating the triangles. (Totally the fault of my stupid, fussy Janome.)

The pinwheel is one of my favorite quilt patterns! I've made a couple of quilts in the past, but I made myself quit because they just never turned out right. I might give this tutorial a try!Happy REDnesday,Carol